Sealing means for revolving distributor for charging iron blast furnaces



AQMOHR, JR., ET AL 2,429,481 SEALING MEANS FOR REVOLVING DISTRIBUTOR FORCHARGING IRON BLAST FURNACES Filed Nov. 28, 1945 2 Sheets-Shet 1INVENTORS SEALING MEANS FOR REVOLVING DISTRIBUTOR FOR CHARGING IRONBLAST FURNACES Filed Nov. 28, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A. MOHR, JR, ETAL YT 2,4z9;4s1

Patented Oct. 21, 1947 entree STATES PATENT OFFICE SEALINGFME'ANS FORREVGEVINGDISTRIB- UTQR FOR GHARGIN G IRON BEAST EUR- NACES 'Albert Mohr,.Ir.,- and. John P; -G'iilli; "Chicago; Ill. Applica'tioirNovember 28,1-945;"Seria1 No-;"631;358

(Cl.-285'a7.1)

7 Claims. 1 For. many years revolving; distributors have beenusestinzthe charging. ofiiron". blast-(furnacesto't'eiid to even out theirregularxamoun-ts-of materials deposited. in the furnace; duetothe:nonuniform placing of the: charging matei ials ch -the small bell of thefurnace.

Ina; double-skip. charged furnace the':mate'rials are .alwayschighon:the-side of the skip-- which has dumped: and the-slope of the materialsin .thezsmall -bell:hopper is-aiunction'of-theangleof "repose. of I the.materialsand; to correct thiscondition at least partially; thefollowing course-has been pursued for .some time in-theart.

:..Ilhe:first charge, which generally-consists of one skip of ore, oneskip of ore, one= slip=-of--'stone, one ship of coke, .one skip of:coke, oneskip ofcoke, and .one'skip of. coke;.=is dumped: onthelowerlarge bell: withoutlany rotation ot the sm'allupper bell and 'itshopperand-is then: dumpeol'intothe furnace by opening the large-bellonwhich-itrests.

i In the-second charge; the skip'load of m'aterlal is dumpedintothesmall-bellhopperahd then such small' b'ell, its hopper; and thecharge thereinis: revolved degrees-Whereuponthe bell is openeddelivering the' charge onto-the lower large bell.

J.:In the" third charge the angle ofhopper'rotati'on -is 120 degrees; inthe fourth 180"-degrees 5 in thelfifth 240::degrees, -in the-sixth 300degrees, and the. nextchargeis at- -z'ero degrees; that -'-is, at theoriginal starting point.

:Whenthe complete charge has-beendelivered onto the large underlyingbell it is dumped -=into the furnace.

' In the case described; an angle of sixtyflegrees was indicatedbut anyother-angle of-intermittent rotation couldbe chosen.

It willbe-understoodin the'casem'entioned that by-using thediscontinuously revolved charge-receiv'ing distributor the points ofdispersion or the materials willbe six'instead of two, and, therefore,the materials will lay in-the furnace much-more uniformly.

0h alarge iron blast-furnace thesedist'ributors, which must operate in alocation which is very dirty, hot and gassy,are about one hundred and.fiftyieet above the groundand the amount of supervision which theyrequire -is-ordinarily relatively small.

The construction of such equipment ig -crdde and no substantial advancehasbeenmadein this type of appliance for several'years, blast-furnaceoperators having considered it necessary to almost completely replace:the distributor every year.

12' The;.-principal cause of thistdestruction of themechanism:is-thedealkage'of hot; dirty gas incorporating. -=.abrasive-.vdust through :the packing- ;glands of lthe: stationary spider ring andtherevolving:distributobbell and hopper.

In the present-day constructions soft packing issplafiecleinapackinagland; ora heavy grease labyrinthitypez glandis used, suchstyles of glands --being:' crudeand practicallyuseless for this type'of'serlvicezin that-these small bell oppers are six feet to seven feetin diameter and=in a-very short xti'meitheywarpandloecomeout-of-mounQ-which 'm'akes it-impossible to: have -a tightseal and ationceithe hot: dirtyi gas hegins to. destroy the gland.

: in some-caseshoppersiof. a diameter-of six-feet have become out-of-round eaihalfeinch. after :onlytwoweeks of operation.

iThis: hot,-: abrasive: gas #escaping: through:- this d'eakysglanddeposits'its so1id materials in all the moving and wearing: parts ofthe-distributor and in a short period of time the Wear'and cutting actionaof'ithis abrasive-material; which-is a: mix- :turenf finecoke,:iron ore and:stonegwill-haveldelstroyed. all ofr-the satisfactoryoperative'properties tofithe distributor-(mechanism. V

'fifter tmnch': lwork I and experimentation =.with flexible. glands;wehave discoveredthat; se eming- -lythe -only,type' of seal thatis-substantially frictionless f and also gas-tight is v amolten-metallic iseal.

We have triedmercu-rybutdue to its; great capacity .to' .unite i'W-ithimpurities sand '1 become fouledywvewereinot successfulin employing thisas'a metallic :seal.

'Ilhezmbltemmetallic". alloycwhich we have found that: givesust the=best service iiri'thisapplication has been. a'ilowz meltingipointalloylwhi'ch melts. at 'approximatelyl lfiw Fahnl-an'd has the followinganalysis: leacfi 26.7%; tin. l3;3-%, cadmium 10.0% and bismu'thi 50z0-%the reason for" the' suocess of this t peoe alloy-being that it-Will'll'Ofi become fouled due to the impurities in the gases and willnot tend toformany chemical union or'amalgains with the containing partsof the seal.

;"'In order .that .thosetrained and'fskilled inthis artcmay havelacomplete understanding of'the beneficial structural and" functionalcharacteristics one. constructionincorporating. our new invention, apresent preferred embodiment of the same". has been illustrated. in theaccompanying drawings forming-:21, part. of this specification. andto-whieh reference should be had in connection with-thefollowing'detailed description; like referencemumerals .having beenemployedfor the same mechanical parts in the several views of thesedrawings.

In such drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the distributor including itssmall bell and hopper;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary, enlarged section showing the novel andimproved seal employed; and

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on line 33 of Figure 1.

Referring to these drawings, II is the upper, small-bell referred toabove which has mounted thereon, so as to be replaceable or removable,a.

frustum-cone manganese-steel seat-member l2 forming a flaring extensionof the conical surface of the bell itself.

may be either steam or electrical means or other appropriate heatingmedium.

The trough, U-shape in vertical cross-section, constituting the gas-sealis filled with the molten alloy referred to which is always maintainedin melted condition by the heat supplied from the heater, this being atabout 158 Fahr., the space between the top of the blade 38 and the uppersurface of the lip 43 being closed by a sealingstrip 45 of any suitablecharacter such as brakelining.

- Experience has shown that the molten seal is efficiently gas-tight andpractically frictionless,

Such bell, externally protected with a replace J able manganese-steelwearing-cover I3, is equipped with a supporting head 14 having a squaresection so that it and the bell will turn together, the head beingmounted on the lower end of an upright, split-pipe l5 which supports thehead 14 and its companion bell H, such pipe or hollow, small-bell rod 15being encased in a series of removable, manganese-steel wearing-ringsI6, 16.

A ball-bearing, not shown, housed within the part ll, sustains theweight of the small-bell ll, l2, l3 and its supporting hollow-rod l5 andthe rings IE allowing them to rotate about the axis of the part l5.

Manganese-steel wearing-plates l8 line the upper receiving-hopper l9,and 21 are similar wearing-plates for the small-bell hopper 22, 23 beinga removable or demountable manganesesteel ring-seat at the bottom ofhopper'22.

A ring-gear 24 surrounding and fastened to the small-bell hopper 2| isrotated by means of a pinion 25 driven by a worm-gear reducer 26 throughshafting and flexible couplings 21 and electric-motor 28.

A main, round spider-frame or encasing, circular member 29 supports thebrackets 3| which carry the several bearing-assemblies 32 with theirsupporting andguiding rollers 33 of which there are six sets ofsupporting-rollers, three sets of vertical-guiding rollers and threesets of hold-down rollers, the supporting-rollers running on ahardened-steel race 34, a limit-switch 35 of common design beingemployed to control the amount of angular rotation.

The annular, molten-metal gas-seal, designated as a Whole l0, comprisingthe'subjectmatter of the present invention, is shown perhaps mostclearly in Figure 2 and is incorporated between the outstanding,circular, rotary flange 36 of, and integral with, the rotary hopper-wall2|, and a lower, exterior, stationary flange 3'! on the circular member29.

Secured to and depending from flange 36 is a circular blade 38 extendininto, but not reaching the bottom of, an annular trough having as itsinner, vertical wall the upstanding, thin, circular portion of member 29and having as its outer wall a heating member having a base 39,constituting the bottom of the trough, upstanding from which is ahollow, cylindrical portion il whose circular chamber is characterized42, the top of such element 4| having a horizontal, outstanding lip 43.

The exterior surface of heating element 4| between its base 39 and itslip 43 is covered with a suitable heat-insulating jacket to preventundue heat loss to the atmosphere, the circular space 42 containing theheating medium which the rate of rotation of the associated hopper beingrelatively slow, and the construction will not allow any furnace gasesto escape, thereby preventing warping and cutting of the machinery bythe hot, dirty, abrasive furnace-blast gas.

The mechanical operation of this improved revolving distributor is thesame as the old type already described except that heat is necessarilyfurnished to maintain the metal in the gas-seal in molten condition atall times when the appliance is in operation and except for theelimination of the prior sealing difficulties heretofore encountered.

When steam is used as the heating medium, it may be supplied to thecircular chamber 42 through an admission pipe 51 and delivered therefromthrough a conduit 52, the chamber or compartment 42 between these twopipes being closed as illustrated in Figure 3.

Obviously, when an electric heater is employed suitable conducting meansfor the current will be supplied.

Those skilled in and acquainted with this art will readily understandthat this invention is not necessarily limited and restricted to theprecise and exact details ofconstruction and mode of operationillustrated and described and that reasonable modifications may beresorted to without departure from the heart and essence of theinvention, as defined by the appended claims, and without the loss orsacrifice of any of its material benefits and advantages.

We claim:

1. A gas-seal for a blast-furnace rotary distributor-hopper and itssurrounding stationary member in which it revolves, including thecombination of a stationary circular trough, sealing molten-metaloccupying said trough, means to heat the metal in said trough tomaintain it in molten condition, a circular wall on and revolvable withsaid hopper and depending into the molten-metal in said trough butterminating short of the bottom of the latter and out of contact withits side-walls, and means between said wall and the adjacent surface ofsaid hopper closing the top of the space above the inner section of saidtrough, whereby escape of gas from between said hopper and stationarymember is prevented by the molten-metal.

2. The gas-seal set forth in claim 1, in which said molten-metalis analloy composed substantially approximately of lead 26.7%, tin 13.3%,cadmium 10.0% and bismuth 50.0%.

,3. The gas-seal set forth in claim 1, including in addition a seal forthe outer-portion of the space above said trough.

4. The gas-seal set forth in claim 1,in which the inner-wall of saidtrough is formed of at least a portion of said surrounding stationarymember.

5. The gas-seal set forthin claim 1, in which said molten metal is analloy composed substantially approximately of lead 26.7%, tin 13.3%,cadmium 10.0% and bismuth 50.0%, in which the outer-wall of said troughincorporates heatingmeans to maintain said alloy in the trough in moltencondition, in which said outer-wall of the trough is externally coveredwith heat-insulating material and in which a seal closes the outerportion of the space above said trough.

6. The gas-seal set forth in claim 1, in which said heating means is inthe outer wall of said trough.

7. The gas-seal set forth in claim 1, in which said heating means is inthe outer wall of said trough and including also heat-insulationcovering the exterior surface of said outer wall of the trough.

ALBERT MOI-IR, JR. JOHN P. GRILLI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 197,810 Germany Sept. 27, 1907 4,132Great Britain Feb. 20, 1906

